Arkham Talks
by Grey Narrator
Summary: Taped patient interviews by one Dr. Mina Lee.
1. Tape Box 1

**Arkham Talks  
**_**Taped patient interviews by one Dr. Mina Lee.**_

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**Story Information**

_**Updates**__:_ Sporadic.

_**Spoilers: **_Batman…?

_**Warnings: **_Violence, coarse language, disturbing imagery, adult concepts and content that some readers may find offensive.

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**Tape Box 1**  
_First sessions with Weylan Jones, Jonathan Crane and Victor Zsasz._

Dr. Lee was short, lean and average looking, the kind of person who blended in well with a crowd. One parent was Asian giving her features a vaguely oriental cast. Her hair was black, long and tied into a professional looking bun. A pair of thin-rimmed glasses was always perched on her nose, without which she could only see about a foot before the world dissolved into fuzz.

She had a pleasant open face and was usually smiling.

===  
_Weylan Jones – First Session_

The tape began recording before anything was spoken. The only sounds at first were the shuffling of nervous guards and the careful creak of a door opening and then closing again. Lee was already seated and patiently waited until Weylan Jones entered in the room.

"Good evening, my name is Dr. Mina Lee although any variation of that is acceptable" her voice was neutral "what may I call you?"

The metal chair across from her moved under an immense weight and screeched across the floor as Jones sat down. Then there was a thump as he rested his massive hands on the table.

"That's funny Doc" said Jones, voice low and rumbling "it's Killer Croc."

"Would Croc be acceptable?" asked Lee.

"Whatever."

There was a brief silence.

"Aren't you going to question me Doc?" he asked.

"I don't know, do you want to talk? You are required to be here for an hour, as am I."

Another silence.

Lee leaned forwards "do you play cards?"

There was a brief pause, then Jones bellowed with laughter.

"Doc, you're nuts" he managed between heaves of air.

She raised an eyebrow and you could hear cards shuffle in background.

"You have to be nuts to work in this place" said Lee.

"Good enough."

They spent the next forty-five minutes playing cards under the careful watch of the guards.

===  
_Dr. Mina Lee, Personal Log One_

Lee sighed and drummed her fingers near the recorder.

"I think that Dr. Ross is trying to scare me off by giving me such an intense workload. Not to mention that my first scheduled session was with Weylan Jones" she paused and flipped through her records "I need to be careful not to antagonize him. From the previous recordings it is easy to see that he is not an unintelligent beast but a man - albeit one who is very quick to anger and can bite off your hands."

She took a deep drink from her mug, coffee and Kahlua. Mostly Kahlua.

"Before I can get to the more interesting questions I need him to understand that I am not a threat and have no interested in humiliating him or seeing him harmed. I'm afraid that his… appearance has done a lot of damage to his identity and how he feels he has to act. Particularly when others have treated him like a beast for long enough that he seems to think he is one."

Her fingers tapped against the tabletop again as she began to plan her approach with him.

"This will take time, the others will never get anywhere by bombarding him with questions. A turtle here will fare much better than a hare."

===  
_Jonathan Crane – First Session._

"I see that they've changed my Tuesday shift" said Crane, voice smooth and calm "did Dr. Thinson resign?"

Lee shook her head, face carefully neutral.

"No, but he did request to have you taken off his patient list."

"And just when things were beginning to get interesting. I do hope that you will fare better, Doctor…?"

"My name is Lee, Mina Lee. May I refer to you as Jonathan or would you prefer Dr. Crane?"

Crane made a surprised noise.

"Dr. Crane, if possible."

"Certainly" Lee cleared her throat "now, your reputation has preceded you, I was wondering if I could ask you a question? In all honesty it is to satisfy my own curiosity."

"Go ahead."

"Do the other emotions interest you so little that you focus on one to exclusion the others?"

The question was not malicious or condescending, just inquisitive.

"I believe that fear is the core and driving emotion of all life, thus the only one worth studying."

"I see" said Lee.

She took a moment to debate her tact.

When Lee continued, her voice was cautious "I must admit I don't agree. I'm more in line with the theory that all life seeks to perpetuate itself, fear is a mechanism to help this as are the other emotions."

"Would you agree that fear is the most useful emotion in continuing life?"

Lee bit her lip in thought.

"I believe that fear is useful when in context, when it does its job. Others are similarly useful. I believe that fear should gave way to compassion and curiosity when appropriate."

"Curiosity is an odd choice, Mina" said Crane, smiling a little.

"Well, fear and curiosity often rival for the same place when people encounter something new."

===  
_Dr. Mina Lee, Personal Log Two._

"I believe that my approach with Dr. Crane will be that of one professional speaking to another. He is most active and animated when discussing and debating his theories."

A gust of wind ruffled her papers and she cursed quietly before getting up to close the window. The on-site office they had given her was not in the best of conditions, the windows often blew open with moist lake air and it was always damp and cold. It was better than having no office at all but she left it sparsely furnished and did not keep anything more than the barebones there.

Lee sat down again and reorganized her papers, she would definitely be bringing them home with her.

"His actions, not those of a madman but those of a sociopath obsessed with his theories, are all based on his fixation with fear. To make any sort of progress in the foreseeable future his belief in his personal theories must be shaken. A nigh impossible task, I will have to be content with attempting to help minimize the damage he does when he escapes."

Lee sighed and leaned back in her chair. There were other concerns she had that were a little more personal.

"I have a feeling he will be the hardest to keep from prying into my personal life. Dr. Crane seems to take a keen interest in destroying his attendants."

===  
_Victor Zasz – First Session._

The recorder was turned on a little late into the session as the conversation had already begun and was at an impasse.

Silence persisted for the first ten minutes of the tape. Lee made no attempt to speak to Victor and he just stared into her face.

"Well, say something. You don't stink of fear, so don't sit there in silence as if you're afraid of speaking to me" said Victor, voice oddly placid.

"Are you going to keep threatening me?"

He laughed, a chilling sound.

"That isn't really an answer, Victor, but I will take another shot" said Lee "I understand that you kill because you believe you are liberating people from the humdrum of their daily life."

"Yes."

"So you are doing good work, and what if you met someone exactly like you? Doing the same job you were doing and for the same reason. If what motivates you is beyond a simple psychosis then this would be a difficult situation. If what drives you is anything besides your addiction then there would be no way you could feel the compulsion to kill them as they would be identical in purpose to you."

There was silence. It persisted and filled up the air until Lee had to say something.

"Would you like me to ask a different question?"

"No."

More silence.

When Victor spoke again it was in a dead, serious voice "maybe that's what I need, someone else to understand what I do and help spread the message."

Something subtle in the air snapped, Lee was stunned as she realized the error of her phrasing. Such a few innocuous words often spurred people like Zasz to react… extremely. She felt that this would have disastrous consequences.

She abruptly got up, her chair squeaking against the floor, and left. Victor was smiling at her the entire time.

===  
_Dr. Lee Lee, Personal Log Three._

The sound of a bottle opening signified Lee pouring herself a shot.

"I fear I have greatly erred today… and if anything happens as a result I will be…"

She clumsily turned off the recorder.

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**Disclaimer.  
**I do not own, profit from, take credit or claim any content related to Batman. This applies throughout all of my works of fiction.


	2. Tape Box 2

**Arkham Talks  
**_**Taped patient interviews by one Dr. Mina Lee.  
**_

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**Tape Box - 2**  
_Sessions with Weylan Jones, Jonathan Crane and Pamela Isley_

Dr. Lee had done fairly well for the first month of her new job.

No missing fingers, no mental breakdowns. She's lived through a couple of break-outs and a riot. Once Lee was sure she caught sight of Batman's cape. She works Monday through Thursday, leaving the island and going back to her apartment for the weekends.

She never loses sight of the fact her patients are hardened criminals, and many times they are also killers. Most will never be cured but if she can make them even a bit less dangerous…

===  
_Weylan Jones – Tenth Session_

The noise of the recorder turning on was accompanied by a yawn from Lee.

"You okay?" asked Lee, stifling a second yawn.

"Bored, Doc," said Croc, "and hell, I'm surprised you showed up."

"Well when you get a call at three in morning from Arkham there's no going back to sleep. Besides I don't mind coming in if you want to talk, or play checkers."

This apparently surprised Mr. Jones because there was silence.

"If I had to swim over, I'd be in trouble," Lee commented to herself.

"Can't swim, Doc?"

"No, although I wish I could. Do you like swimming?"

"Hell yeah, I spend more time in the water than out."

Lee leaned back in her chair and smiled.

"Don't you get cold?"

"Naw, I'm used to it. Damn if this scaly hide is good for much else."

"Then, if not cold, lonely?"

Jones gave a derisive snort at that.

"More like hungry" he said with a chuckle.

Lee was less than amused and didn't say anything at all. Croc stopped laughing awkwardly in the silence. She shook her head and shrugged.

"I don't know, is it really that bad to like company? It's… entertaining at least to talk –or play cards—with people, you have to admit that."

"To be honest Doc, not many people wanna stick around a predator so there ain't much of a basis for comparing them."

"Well now you do, so what's more valuable to you, being a predator or having someone to stave off the maddening boredom?"

===  
_Dr. Mina Lee, Personal Log Fourteen._

"Weylan Jones was asking for me on a Sunday night at three in the morning. I went in, tired, and was surprised to see him anticipating my arrival. I fear that his isolation has left him so bored that he has begun to rely on me for entertainment. He has little to do in the sewer; I should speak to a superior about getting him some way to pass the time. I have visited him more than any other patient but there is usually little in the way of talking."

Lee yawned and rubbed her face with her hands, wiping her watery eyes. She hadn't slept the night before and was feeling the strain.

"I know that most of the patients can never be cured, I have no illusions about that. However, the damage they do when they escape can be lessened."

She grumbled.

"…and they do escape a lot."

===_  
Jonathan Crane – Sixth Session_

Sometimes during her sessions with Dr. Crane, Lee forgot to turn the tape on immediately. He tended to launch right into a discussion the moment she sat down. This one had been put off until well after their time should have ended.

"-but isn't the purpose of fear to keep someone alive? It is a perversion of its nature to use it specifically to kill."

"How can we learn more about something without testing all of its potential?"

"It is no longer fear you are studying when you take the research to such extremes that the emotion no longer remotely performs as it is supposed to. When was the last time you had a goal for your experiments? Something you were working towards with usable results?"

That gave him pause, he shifted in his seat.

"Excuse me ma'am, you've gone over your allotted time by an hour now," said a guard in the background, "I need to escort Crane to his cell."

"Can I have ten more minutes?" asked Dr. Lee.

"I'm sorry ma'am."

There was a brief scuffle as the two guards approached Crane. Then a sound of glass breaking and a scream. Heavy breathing, a few knocking noises and then shoes crunching on broken shards.

Lee stumbled back until her shoulders hit the table.

There was a brief struggle before she stopped moving, going still as if that would somehow disinterest her attacker. She was deathly afraid but reacted to it like a deer in headlights, silently and with a stunned expression.

"Well Mina, this is exciting," said Crane "I wonder how long it will take them to notice this disruption. They're probably already sending guards."

She said nothing, didn't even look him in the eye. He leaned in and observed her reaction with keen interest.

"What are you afraid of, Mina?"

Her eyes rolled up to lock onto his face.

"Right now? You."

===  
_Dr. Mina Lee, Personal Log Fifteen._

When Lee turned on her personal with some trouble, her hand audibly fumbling with the buttons.

"You know… today was very funny day…" Lee's voice was slurred "Crane killed the two guards watching our session."

She drank more.

"Then he tried to ferret out my fears," said Lee, "it was thoroughly… shaking."

The cup clinked on the table, empty, and Lee sighed. For a few seconds she shuffled around in her desk and took out a cigarette. With deliberate slowness and precision she lit it and took a drag.

Lee pinched her brows together and rubbed her temples, then exhaled a slow steady stream.

"I won't be intimidated off by him, goddammit. "

===_  
Pamela Isley – First Session_

The tape flicked on and Lee carefully sat down, face placid.

"Hello, my name is -"

"Dr. Mina Lee."

There was a brief silence.

"I overheard it from the flowers, please, call me Ivy."

"Alright Ivy, feel free to call me whatever you wish."

"Just Mina then."

"Ivy, may I ask you about your cause?"

This seemed to get Isley animated, her hair picked up its movement and she leaned forwards.

"Anything you want."

"When was the last time you donated to any kind of 'save the green planet' charity?"

This question didn't exactly make Isley look sullen so much as anxious.

"I haven't… in a long time."

"Do you think you are doing more to help with your current activities?"

===  
_Dr. Lee Lee, Personal Log Sixteen._

"Pamela is an interesting woman, sometimes she seems to be purely psychotic and sociopathic – towards humans at least – and yet there's still a spark in there, somewhere."

Lee flipped through some older folders and took out a picture.

"She does seem to show at least some empathy for Harleen Quinzel, another sometimes inmate. It should also be noted that having the ability to care about plants shows that the ability to care is still there."

Lee carefully replaced the photo and she took a sip of wine.

"I will always be looking over my shoulder for a dagger here, or in this case a poison thorn. Isley is a killer, there is no doubt about that, and she is so jaded that getting close to her is nigh impossible."**  
**

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**Disclaimer.  
**I do not own, profit from, take credit or claimany content related to Batman. This applies throughout all of my works of fiction.


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